Honda is certainly not going through its best moment and even in the first races of 2024 it showed itself to be in great difficulty, with all the riders constantly in the back-up positions. However, if there is an advantage (if it can be defined as such) that it has over its opponents, it is the possibility of carrying out tests freely thanks to the concession system. These also seem to have helped in the collective tests in Jerez, where Honda brought several new features.
The opinions of the riders were not entirely positive, but Luca Marini is the voice out of the chorus in this sense, because he promoted some pieces that we saw on Stefan Bradl’s now famous bike: “We always need tests, it would be nice to be able to do so many more. At the moment we are lacking on every side of riding the bike and I need to improve as quickly as possible. It’s not easy, but all the engineers are doing a great job.”
The work both in the garage and in Japan is enormous, but it takes time for Honda’s efforts to take effect: “All the things they have brought are slightly improvements, now we will need to find the best package, combine everything. It’s all better, but not much. However it is like this, pulling down tenths all together is not easy. “We still can’t use the new parts, we have to wait for the new package to be defined. It takes time to produce the parts and rightly so because there is a production cycle because we make things in Japan. It takes time to make everything work.”
Luca Marini, Repsol Honda Team
Photo credit: Honda Racing
“Bradl’s motorbike? I tried it in Barcelona,” she continues, going into more detail about Honda’s work. “The others complained, but perhaps their words were not well understood by the journalists. Let’s say that of the whole package that has been put on the new bike, it is difficult to say whether it is better or not. But there are certain pieces that I think are better. In my opinion, things should just be separated, in my opinion, I understood what is best and I said so. When the new package is mixed everything will be fine.”
After the Italian Grand Prix, there will be other tests, this time at Mugello. It will be about testing the new features on a track that is totally different from Jerez de la Frontera and this will be a good test for Honda: “We will have to try the Jerez stuff again at Mugello, because they are two completely different tracks. What worked in Spain, if it works in Italy it means it’s good. But I hope there’s something else new too. But we haven’t talked about the next tests yet.”
The topic of the weekend is undoubtedly the new regulation, which will come into force in 2027. Marini, however, does not want to go too far, because he prefers to focus on the immediate future, or improving the current bike: “2027 is too far away to think about. I’m too focused on this year. If I’ll be here? I would like to continue being a MotoGP rider in 2027.”
“One thing I can say is that the aerodynamics, being smaller, will require even greater study and costs. We have seen in recent years that aerodynamics has made a huge difference in every aspect: less wheelie, better braking, better turning, greater grip and feeling. Having it restored and not removed will have to put even more work on the engineers from this point of view and more will have to be invested on this side to make it work in the best way but with less surface area, so it will be more complicated. For the rest, it is too difficult to draw conclusions,” he continues.
However, the driver from Tavullia claims that this year the situation is already different compared to 2023. The new tires brought by Michelin favored the show, as well as having found a good response among the drivers. However, Honda is missing from the great spectacle of MotoGP and is not among the protagonists: “I believe that already with the improved tyres, overtaking has taken some steps forward. The races this year seem more beautiful to me, even if I only watch them on television at the moment.”
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